


Nagini's Gift

by NayReads



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 05:35:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19370578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NayReads/pseuds/NayReads
Summary: On a quiet street in a long-neglected part of town, a dark haired made his way to the front door of his house in Spinner’s End at the feeling of a disturbance in the surrounding wards. Severus Snape, wand in hand, opened the door to find not only the Dark Lord's familiar on his doorstep, but clutched in her coils, Harry Potter.A rewrite of Nagini's Gift by SolNiveAngelo (Mogadorian_Wolf)





	Nagini's Gift

All rights reserved JK Rowling, I do not own any part of the Harry Potter Universe  
A/N: I just wanted to quickly say, this work was inspired by Nagini's Gift written by SolNiveAngelo (Mogadorian_Wolf), I did not come up with this idea myself, but I was inspired to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keys) for the first time in about 14 years. I absolutely adored the original, so please go check it out.

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**Chapter 1: Upon a Doorstep**

On a quiet street in a long-neglected part of town, a dark haired made his way to the front door of his house in Spinner’s End at the feeling of a disturbance in the surrounding wards. Severus Snape found himself quite adrift: Lily was dead and his old master vanquished, so he was in no mood to be disturbed. Having returned to his house not long before, he had just drowned his second measure of Firewhiskey in an attempt to dull the pain of finding Lily in the wreckage of the Potter’s cottage in Godric’s Hollow. He had known, earlier that evening when his Dark Mark shot pain so sharp through his arm that it reverberated in his chest, that the Dark Lord had been vanquished and immediately he attempted to Apperate to Lily. Popping onto the street outside of the Potter’s cottage, icy dread spread through his heart. The cottage was supposed to be under Fidelius Charm – he should not have been able to Apperate to it, much less be standing in front of the wreckage it was now and see it. Carefully, he made his way into the house and discovered first the body of James. Flinching and starting to panic, the dread sitting like a solid weight in his chest he rushed forward and up towards the Nursey, looking for Lily. Upon finding her body, his knees gave out and a strangled noise worked its way out of his throat, which, had anybody been around to hear it, would have made them flinch in sympathy at the heart breaking sound that it was. Drawing Lily’s cooling body into his arms, Snape wept, like he hadn’t since he was a very small child, at the loss of this soul which was so very special to him. His dearest friend had been so pure, so full of life and love and for him, she had represented all that was good and right in the world. Sometime later, that had felt like hours to Snape, the worst of his tears started drying up and he finally had the mind to take in his surroundings. He absently noted the empty crib, and the destroyed state of the room when he heard the distinct pop of others Apperating onto the street outside. Not wanting to be seen, or found at the scene, Snape took one last look at Lily, softly touched her cheek with his potion-stained fingertips before taking a step back, turning on the spot Disapperating out of the Potter’s cottage.

 

Drawing his wand, and cracking open the door, Snape exhaled a curse at the Dark Lord’s familiar on his doorstep with none other than the Boy-Who-Lived wrapped in her coils.  
No quite believing what was in front of him, Snape let the door swing open, almost as if to get a better look at the sight of the snake with a small child. Nagini, taking the opening door as an invitation, slithered into the dark house with her charge. Snape let out another curse at the situation he had found himself in, and with exasperation realized he would have to contact Dumbledore to come collect the child: with no uncertain terms would he have the spawn of James Potter in his house!  
Closing the door firmly, Snape made his way through to the small, dank living area where the snake has settled with Potter in front of the warm fire. The room itself was almost claustrophobically packed with floor to ceiling bookshelves, the small, worn sofa positioned across from the fire and Snape’s favourite wing backed chair tucked in between the two.  
Not for the first time, the Potions Master wished he was a Parselmouth, so that he may have spoken to the snake to understand just exactly why she thought it was a good idea to bring the Potter boy to him, of all people.

Nagini, for her part, wished too that the Potions Master could speak with her: she had bought the Potter boy to the dark man as compensation for his lost woman. Her master had spoken to her about saving the child’s mother for the Potions Master before they had journeyed to the Potter house. She hadn’t actually seen herself what had happened – a fat mouse that had been far too good to pass up had caught her attention, and she had strayed from her master’s side for just a moment to catch it. Returning to the house, she found the door open (which at the time she had thought was very thoughtful of her master) and discovered a dead male body that was quickly disregarded. Following the scent of her master, she made her way further into the house until she came upon a room that tasted like a human baby on her tongue. Her master was nowhere to be seen, and the Potion’s Master’s woman was laying on the floor with wide, unseeing eyes.  
A wail caught Nagini’s attention from the crib, just beyond the woman’s body and she slithered forward to discover a small child, with dark hair, impossibly green eyes and an angry looking lightning bolt shaped wound on his forehead. Nagini manoeuvred herself into the crib with the child, deciding that he would make up for the death of the woman that the Potions Master desired. Coiling around the babe, Nagini snuggled herself around the small body and made small hissing noises at him in comfort until Harry settled down from his sorrowful cries. For Nagini, it was settled: she would take the hatchling to the Potions Master.

Now settled in front of the fire in the Potion Master’s home, Nagini finally relaxed her coils from around little Harry, now that she would not have to worry about him crawling away to his demise.

Snape watched with dread as Nagini loosened her hold on the child and the small boy pushed himself upright and toddled towards him. Cooing, Potter reached for his leg. Stepping back and regarding the child with distaste, Snape decided it was past time to Floo the Headmaster to come collect the brat. Potter made the noise again and reached for Snape’s leg a second time, lips curling into a sneer, he nudged the small creature away from him with a socked foot and caused a giggle (of all things) to come bubbling up out of the boy. Eyes darting to Nagini as he caught her movement out of the corner of his eye, she gave him a look before slithering from the room. Turning and stepping away towards the Floo, he was stopped in tracks as the brat finally managed to latch onto his leg. Sneering down his nose at the boy, they were caught in somewhat of a standoff – which is how Nagini found them, returning with a big, juicy rat in her mouth. She dropped the rat (which she considered a wonderful meal for the hatchling) not too far from the boy, and as he reached out one hand towards it, the other still clutching at the Potion Master’s leg, Snape swooped down and scooped the boy up. Holding Potter as far from his own body as possible, Snape looked down at Nagini.  
“I don’t think babies eat rats,” he said to the snake. “I will feed the brat.”

Harry reached his arms out towards the dark man, who looked at him with undisguised distaste and smiled brightly at him. Snape scowled back at the boy, before tucking him under his arm, much like a football, and moved towards the fireplace. The imp giggled, causing Snape’s scowl to deepen as he took a pinch of Floo Powder and tossed it into the flames.  
“Albus!” Snape called through the fire once the Floo had connected. After a few moments, the Headmaster’s face appeared in the flames.  
“Severus, my boy! What brings you to my Floo today?” Albus asked cheerfully.  
“Albus, Nagini bought the Potter child to my house. You need to come collect him,” Snape told the Headmaster, turning slightly so Albus would have a better view of the child tucked under his arm.  
“How very strange, my boy. That’s where little Harry disappeared to, you say? Well I am afraid I don’t have anywhere for the boy to go, Severus, and he certainly cannot come to Hogwarts currently: it is not for such small children and there is no one to look after him; it’s pure luck you were home when Nagini showed up at your door. I had intended to send the boy to his aunt, Lily’s sister Petunia, but upon investigation that is not an option, I’m afraid.”  
Ignoring the stab of pain in his chest at the mention of Lily, with her death still so new and raw, “What about my classes, Albus? I am not equipped to look after a child, and more so, I have no desire to look after the Potter brat!” Snape sniped back at the Headmaster.  
“You are very resourceful, my boy, I’m sure you will figure it out! Now, I must be off,” the Headmaster replied, pulling his head out of the fire and cutting off the call. Snape growled in frustration and looked down at the imp, who looked back at him with his big green eyes. He let out a sigh and made his way to the kitchen to make some food for them, grumbling about crazy headmasters.

Later that night, in the hastily made nursery, Harry began to stir in his transfigured crib. Nagini started to fret as the hatchling started thrashing and whimpering in his sleep. Not knowing what to do, Nagini pushed herself into the crib next to the small boy, where he latched on to her body and started to sob. Seeing that her presence was not calming the young hatchling, she carefully manoeuvred him out of the crib and carried him along in her coils towards the Potion Master's bedroom. Depositing the sniffling child on the floor, Nagini poked the Potions Master sharply until he grumbled. Harry, who had gotten himself standing and was now trying to pull himself up onto the bed. Using one of her coils, Nagini helped the child clamber up onto the bed where the half asleep Potions Master grumbled some, but was holding up the covers for the boy to crawl close. Happy that the hatchling was in good hands, Nagini returned to her spot in front of the embers in the fireplace.

With a groan, Snape woke the following morning to a moving bundle in his bed. As awareness slowly seeped through his brain, it occurred to Snape that this was not a normal occurrence: sitting up sharply, he yanked the covers down to reveal a squirming, giggling Harry Potter. With a deep sigh, and the wish that he had dreamt the events of the day before, he picked the child up and headed for the kitchen, intent on a coffee. Dropping the child on Nagini’s coils as he passed her napping in front of the fireplace on his way to the kitchen, mind focused on his morning caffeine, he almost missed Harry and Nagini sleepily hissing at one another. How wonderful, the Saviour was a Parselmouth. Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Snape headed into the kitchen to make his morning coffee extra strong.

 

Looking after a small child, was no easy feat. An owl delivery arrived, with supplies and a few books on childcare that Snape has ordered the previous day, which made things somewhat easier. Despite being an overall happy child, as the day and the week went on, Harry became more quiet and unsettled in this new place. The first night Harry cried for hours on end was absolute hell for the Potions Master: unable to settle the child down for bed was beginning to wear Snape down. He couldn’t understand what was wrong, the brat was fed, watered and clean. It was sometime in the early hours of that morning that Snape realized, Potter was missing his mother and this was so startling and heart breaking for the hardened man, that he very nearly shed a tear himself.  
The weeks passed, both Snape and Harry adjusting and adapting to living with each other, and the Dark Lord’s snake. It was a total of eight (long) weeks after Nagini had shown up with Harry, that Snape found Minerva McGonagall in the living room of Spinner’s End. Leaning back into his favourite chair with his tea, Snape watched as Minerva settled onto the sofa, her own cup of tea in hand.  
“Where’s Harry, Severus?” She asked the dour man.  
“Nagini is watching him at the moment. Those two are as thick as thieves.” He watched with wicked mirth as the old witch nearly dropped her teacup.  
“You have a snake watching a toddler?” she asked incredulously.  
“Other than trying to feed the brat rats, she does a surprisingly good job of it, and she hasn’t bought any rats to the boy in some time now,” he remarked casually, bringing his tea up to cover his smirk at the shock on Minerva’s face. So far the snake had proved to be a helpful, albeit unorthodox carer for the young child.  
“Perhaps we should invest in a baby sitter for you, Severus,” Minerva suggested. Snape scoffed at this and made a noncommittal sound – he didn’t think there were many who would be able handle both a mischievous toddler and Nagini.

Minerva stayed for a while, and they spoke about how things were going at Hogwarts, amongst other meaningless topics. Snape was pleased to hear that his leaving the Potions Professor role hadn’t caused too much disruption, even as little as he cared for the dunderheads he used to teach. Within a week or so of Harry being foisted upon him, he had found a suitable replacement and resigned from his teaching position: he couldn’t teach full time at Hogwarts as well as raising the Saviour of the Wizarding world, now could he?


End file.
